§ MR. BUCHANAN) (Edinburgh, W.I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether considerable amounts of Consols, Indian, Colonial, and Foreign Government Funds, as well as of many other securities, of which the dividend warrants or coupons are payable in England, are held by persons living in Scotland and Ireland; whether, in the Parliamentary Paper recently issued on the Incidence of Imperial Taxation in the three countries, the Income Tax on the interests payable on all the above securities is set down exclusively as part of the contribution of England to the Imperial Revenue; and whether, to arrive at a fair apportionment to Scot-laud and Ireland, any allowance has been made for the Income Tax contributed by Scottish and Irish holders of the above securities?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSGHEN,) St. George's, Hanover SquareIncome Tax is deducted in London from Consols and other Government securities of which the interest is payable in London, and it follows that Scotch holders of such securities pay Income Tax in England. Income Tax is deducted on Consols at the Bank of Ireland, therefore Irish holders of Consols pay for the most part their Income Tax in Ireland. The Parliamentary Paper No. 163 states that the Return charges Income Tax under the country where it is collected. This is, in fact, the only definite information which we possess. I have not, however, 818 lost sight of the fact that under the system of deduction in force England may be credited with Income Tax charged on Government Securities and the securities of various companies held by Scotchmen; but, on the other hand, Scotland may be credited with Income Tax charged on securities of Scotch companies held by Englishmen. It is possible, however, to give some indications of the extent to which securities paying Income Tax in England are held in Scotland. I learn from the Bank of England that out of 1,070 dividend warrants posted under letter A, 1,035 went to English addresses, 14 to Scotch, and 21 to Irish. But I have tried the letter most favourable to Scotland. Under the letted M, including Mac, out of a total of 1,079, 1,028 went to English addresses, 37 to Scotch, and 14 to Irish. Again, the dividends on £6,020,000 Consols out of a total mass of about £500,000,000 were paid in April last by the Bank to agents of Scotch banks. Further information has been received from an English bank much to the same effect. These figures would point to a very low percentage as representing the Scotch holding of Consols and other securities paying Income Tax in England. But, as a matter of fact, the contribution of Scotland to the Exchequer might be increased by the allowance of a high percentage in respect of their securities without reaching the figure of 11 per cent., upon which we base our contribution to the local expenditure of Scotland.